Paula Abdul’s Contract Negotiations Become Heated
Ruh Rho. Paula Abdul and her peeps are threatening to pick up their ball and go home:
Via the LA Times:
Paula Abdul is unhappy. And unless the producers of “American Idol” change her frown to a smile soon, she’ll dance like there’s no tomorrow away from TV’s No. 1 show.
“Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on ‘Idol,’ ” David Sonenberg, Abdul’s manager, told The Times when contacted about the judge’s contract negotiations.
With auditions for the ninth season due to start Aug. 6, Sonenberg says he doesn’t even have a proposal for a new contract from FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment, the production companies behind the show. The new season is scheduled to premiere in January.
“I find it under these circumstances particularly unusual; I think unnecessarily hurtful,” he said of the contract holdup. “I find it kind of unconscionable and certainly rude and disrespectful that they haven’t stepped up and said what they want to do.”
Representatives for Fremantle, 19 and Fox all separately declined to comment.
Paula’s representatives are using public threats to light a fire under Freemantle/19. The big money deal Ryan Seacrest just nabbed, and the reports of sick money Simon Cowell is negotiating must be driving Paula to push for a HUGE raise.
I think Idol would be crazy not to make her happy. Paula’s not expendable–she’s part of the chemistry that makes that panel work. The odd person out is Kara DioGuardi. Here’s an idea: ditch Kara and give Paula the difference. And then some.
Something tells me Paula will be back…this is just a little dance before the hard negotiations begin…
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45 Responses to “Paula Abdul’s Contract Negotiations Become Heated”
If it were down to Paula or Randy leavin, I can’t help thinking Randy brought the least contributions in this latest season – Paula actually improved, perhaps due to Kara being brought in.
And Kara, while he didn’t do much, she certainly did more than Randy.
even if paula gets offered little money she has no choice to sign because she has nothing else to do
I’m still trying to figure out why Pauler is selling her old clothes and crap on eBay and only giving 10% to charity…
Does anyone actually care what Paula has to say? My feeling is that, sure, Simon and Paula have nice chemistry, but her opinion holds little weight with most viewers. Good for a sitcom, not so much for Idol. I just want someone to counterbalance Simon’s mindgames and manipulations, none of the other three judges can do that. Fremantle should find someone with a spine, integrity, and credibility. A tall order, and one they probably don’t want to fill, but if they do that they could easily replace any (or all) of the other three judges. It would benefit the long term health of the show.
With this statement I will agree. The interactions between Paula and Simon were waaaayyyy too much this year. It seemed to me that their interactions were almost “set up” to distract from certain contestants. If they could all get back on track as judges and not try to be the stars of the show, I actually think four could work.
I agree that Paula is part of the original chemistry, however I’ve only watched two full seasons now. 19, pay her for what she’s worth to the show, which to me is helping to put this show #1 in their time slot year after year. She’s worth it!
I hope that there’s not another Bikini Girl in the future because honestly, Kara was not exactly putting her best foot forward when she was needled by Bikini Girl at the start and that whole strip sequence at the Finale was more embarrassing that revelatory.
Simon did the nearly the same with his wining about how busy is with his British shows and don’t know if he continue with Idol.
Even if I would love if it would not this way, but this is partly an element, why Idol works so well.
A part of the audience want it this way. They want just to have a little fun and not something to deep.
After last season even Simon seems to play after the script to an extend I was very disappointed, there is no chance this could happen.
Hmmmm, I actually think Kara has the ability to do this. Anyone coming into the trio of Simon, Paula and Randy is going to struggle. They have to know how to play the game and tippy toe around this established judges panel.
Now that Kara has a season behind her, a season in which she showed great potential, imo, she can come out slinging next yr. Put Simon in his place-so to speak.
Hopefully Simon’s huge salary will help with his boredom(not likely), and the judges can go on being….judges, not stars.
Just don’t make Kara write anymore songs and we’ll be fine.
There’s no way to justify paying Seacrest 6 or 8 times the salary of Paula Abdul.
She is kind of incoherent at times, but Idol would not be the same without Paula. She’s kind of the heart of the judges, I think. I hope they settle soon.
I really would like to see Randy leave. He has a career, such as producing Brooke’s album. He doesn’t need Idol, and I don’t think he’d be missed that much after a few weeks.
Paula will sign as she needs Idol. I haven’t forgtten the Jason incident but she was a little bit better last season.
Kara could become an asset on the show if she doesn’t follow the scripted moments. For the most part, I liked her comments.
Simon is Simon. Hopefully, not so bored this year.
I agree, ditch Kara!!! That woman is the so annnnnnoying. I don’t care if she does have cred, though any cred she might have had at onetime is pretty much gone with the calamitous NB. Anyone who acknowledges writing such a shitty song should be booted out on the grounds of astounding hackery.
I like Paula, she’s funny and likable and keeps things interesting. And last season she made a lot more sense than the gratingly pompous Kara.
Ditch Kara I say, and keep the QVC queen.
No, I like Kara. She is better than Randy and Paula.
I say if Paula wants to take her ball and go, let her. I guess I just don’t have much sympathy for the rich crying about not being richer, regardless of how much Cowell is getting. Which is WAY too much. Working on the most popular show isn’t enough? I bet she stays — she knows what she’d be leaving.
I too like Kara this season.
IMO, Paula is the only judge worth a damn on the entire show. There, I said it.
That report, assuming it’s straight and not a negotiation ploy, doesn’t sound good at all to me. At best, it sounds like TPTB are trying to low ball Paula at the last possible minute after making her feel as though they may not make an offer at all. Sads.
He does about 8 times more work than her, so I think it could be justified.
Idol without Paula is like The Jackson 5 without Marlon.
I’d like to see three judges, but because of time, not chemistry. l would be fine if Paula is gone. She says a bunch of incoherent nonsense most of the time and jacks around with Simon. Doesn’t add nearly as much to the show as, say, Randy for me for you for me.
Maybe I’m odd in that I watch the show for the contestants and not the judges, but as long as there’s a new crop of talented singers (with, obviously, some horrible freakshows mixed in) I’ll watch as usual.
As far as I’m concerned Paula was the best judge last year. She saw the potential in Kris and Allison long before any other judges did. I hope she’s back. I like Kara too but hated the time constraints it put on the show. I think 3 judges worked best.
I agree with PattyH. 3 judges worked best, but I wouldn’t know who to ditch. Neither of them is outstandingly bad. I actually like Randy, Kara’s good but long-winded and a bit odd (Just allow her to get more chemistry with the other judges, she could be fine), Paula’s the nice caring one (and her critiques were much better this season than last), and Simon is Simon. Brutally honest, yet a bit manipulative.
The only thing about the judges is obvious favoritism, but I dunno if they’re doing that or if TPTB do that. No more Adam/Danny stuff, let the fans of the show decide that. I’d say you can have favorites, but try not to make it blatant (i.e. Danny’s A for effort on Dream On or the OTT praise of Adam). It’s like they were scared to point out flaws in those two (Face it, even Adam isn’t perfect).
Although I think they did play a part in Kris winning (Kris was my favorite, so I really loved that), I still think they should give equal appreciation to everyone else. Kris and Allison seemed like they were working much harder than the others at times yet they got reamed quite a bit. The other thing I hate is how they compare people to other contestants or occasionally other people who are more their type. I don’t want them to say who’s better than who (Mostly Simon comparing contestants but Randy comparing to other artists), I want them to judge on what they did.
Contract negotiations should stay private. Sure maybe Fremantle and 19 are trying to low ball her. But for Paula’s team to take their negotiations public feels like a low ball tactic of their own. I always have a problem when an artist takes their contract negotiations public.
I say dump her. I’d like to see a Kara, Simon, Randy judging anyway. Has d.b cooper said someone needs to to counterbalance Simon’s mindgames and manipulations. And maybe challenge him to give better critique next year, and not just phone it in. Paula and Randy certainly aren’t up to it. I think Kara would be.